High hopes for Hadleigh

Hector Leonardo Leon Paez from Colombia in action during a Mountain Bike training session at the London 2012 Olympic Games at Hadleigh Farm on August 8, 2012 in Hadleigh, England.

Photograph by: Phil Walter
, Getty Images

LONDON — No pressure, riders, but as the song says, our nation turns its lonely eyes to you.

Canada could use a medal or two this weekend to finish up the Olympics with a bang, and Cycling Canada is especially hopeful of making up for some tough times at the velodrome with some strong results in the mountain bike events at Hadleigh Farm. Leading the charge will be 31-year-old Catharine Pendrel — of Kamloops, via Fredericton — the pre-race favourite.

In what she hopes was an omen, Pendrel won a test event on the Hadleigh Farm Olympic course a year ago. After finishing fourth in Beijing, just nine seconds out of a medal position, Pendrel is determined to get on the podium. As the top-ranked mountain bike rider in the world, with a recent World Cup win to her credit, she has the pedigree.

“This year, definitely, I know that I’m capable of a top three for sure,” Pendrel said during a mountain bike conference at The Hawk Pub in Battlesbridge earlier this week. “I know I’m capable of having a really great race ... it takes a lot of factors to fall into place on the day. I think we’ve done the groundwork to have a great day.”

That Pendrel is the current world champion and holds the No. 1 ranking gives her a competitive advantage in the Olympic race. Participants line up for the narrow, looped course according to their rank, and so, wearing bib No. 2 (there is no bib No. 1), Pendrel will be first in line, just ahead of Norway’s Gunn Rita Dahle Flesjaa and Julie Bresset of France. The race covers 140 kilometres in 4.7-km loops.

Emily Batty, wearing bib No. 7, represents another strong Canadian presence in the race. Batty, 24, is from Brooklin, Ont. and she’s also stood on a World Cup podium this year.

There are only 30 riders in the women’s event, smaller than in World Cup races, with 50 for the men’s race on Sunday. The men will cover 250 kilometres.

Interestingly, the Olympic course offers an open hillside for the benefit of spectators at Hadleigh and the viewers at home. In many World Cup and Olympic races, the riders disappear into the woods for long stretches, appearing in the open just long enough to scoot past the cameras at the venue tribune. The Hadleigh Farm land is owned by the Salvation Army, and course designer Martin Seddon performed a massive makeover to transform a grassland area into a rocky route with enough steep rises to challenge Olympians.

Riders pack their own tool kits in case of mechanical issues, as they can only receive team help in designated assistance zones.

This was expected to be a strong Olympics for Canadians who compete on two wheels. On the road, where predicting Games success can be hazardous, Clara Hughes and Ryder Hesjedal both finished out of the medals. Hughes capped her illustrious career as a summer and winter athlete by finishing fifth in the road time trial. On the track, where Canada vowed not to be shut out — as they were in Beijing — it succeeded, just barely, winning a bronze in the women’s team pursuit. Tara Whitten, a two-time world champion, was the lead rider in the women’s pursuit ride, but finished fourth in the omnium.

Next door to the velodrome, at the BMX course, Tory Nyhaug was in tough after having his spleen removed just two months earlier; while he finished the quarter-finals strongly, he wound up one point shy of advancing to Friday’s semifinals.

That leaves the mountain bikers to ease the pain.

After Saturday’s race, the Canadian men will have at it on Sunday. Geoff Kabush of Courtenay, B.C. — a longtime friend and training parter of Hesjedal — has the most experience. The 35-year-old is participating in his third Olympics. He was 9th in Beijing.

Max Plaxton, 27, of Victoria was a silver medallist at the Pan Am Games last year and finished 22nd at the world championships.

The best chance for glory, however, will be in the women’s race Saturday, in what Cycling Canada hopes will be high times at Hadleigh.

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